Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk

A portrait of my sweetheart drawn while she is asleep: a passed-out angel illuminated by the light of dawn coming in from the bathroom window, one of her shoes missing.A rough charcoal sketch of my sweetheart's empty gin bottle I found under the couch when I was cleaning.An aquarelle kitty cat, observed at the dumpsters of the parking lot where my sweetheart hurled, drawn from memory.The moonlit sky with stars, inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night and the time I waited two hours for my sweetheart outside her favorite bar on Sunset, in the alley.A color drawing of my sweetheart's missing shoe with her phone number and an offer for a reward, which I still think is pretty funny, even if she doesn't laugh when I show it to her.A self-portrait in oil pastels to remind my sweetheart of me, as she hasn't come over since Tuesday.A pencil sketch of how I imagine the basement where my sweetheart's AA meetings take place, including The Big Tattoo Guy and The Girl Who Cries, both of whom I think I got down pretty well even if I've only ever seen them from across the street.An anatomically correct picture of my heart drawn in markers, with the words "I miss you" scribbled underneath, tacked on my sweetheart's car windshield.Two squirrels chasing each other, a study in ink: a blatant attempt to subliminally make my sweetheart think of the time we had sex in the park and how happy we used to be when she was still drinking.A sketch of my sweetheart's window at night, her outline visible behind the curtains, her back is turned, which is why she doesn't see me standing there, sketching and crying.

Normally I'm not excited about this form but wow, this is so well executed. There is plenty of imagery, subtlety of emotion that draws a clear view of the two characters, and a narrative arc that swiftly rises and falls to cut into the heart. So very well done.

Buckley is kind of a god. I love the subtle implication that the lover spurned by the drunk attempting to get clean would just as soon have the drunk back. Happens all the time. Someone always ups the ante. Good work here.*